


Frigga's Sons

by LeeMorrigan



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Comics), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Brotherly Love, Cute kid Loki, Cute kid Thor, Frigga protects her children, Frigga rocks, Gen, Heimdall is mentioned, Hela is mentioned, Loki and Thor as kids, Loki learning to use his magic, Loki loves his brother, Nightmares, Nothing Thor wouldn't do to save Loki, Odin sucks, Odin's A+ Parenting, Sif is mentioned, Takes place when Thor and Loki were eight, Thor has a war hammer, babes in Asgard, in spades, mama frigga, mother's comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-02 07:23:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14539590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeMorrigan/pseuds/LeeMorrigan
Summary: When Thor and Loki were only 8, Loki's powers were newly emerging and Thor did not yet have his famous hammer. Odin grew concerned over Loki's accidentally using his magic to transform people, silverware, etc. and worried Loki might harm someone, Frigga reminds him that Asgard wasn't built in a day nor should a child be expected to perfect his magic overnight. And when the stress causes a terrible nightmare for Loki, causing his magic to turn on him, it is Thor who comes to his brother's rescue. But who will rescue them when the nightmare threatens to swallow them both? You guessed it- mama Frigga.





	1. Royal Parenting

**Author's Note:**

> I have NOT seen INFINITY WAR so no spoilers here.  
> I do not own Marvel (or we'd still have Frigga & the Warriors 3) or any of the MCU characters, I'm just taking them for a spin because the fandom could use some brotherly-love fic that ends with smiles rather than tears, disaster, calamities, or the like.  
> Mostly told from Loki and Frigga's perspectives, a little of Thor though. Display of Odin's A+ parenting in action. Features a vision of the future, for Frigga, that hints at the events of RAGNAROK.  
> Please enjoy!
> 
> PS: If nightmares, parental screaming, glass objects thrown against walls, snakes, or inanimate objects coming to life will trigger or otherwise greatly upset you, you may want to skip this fic. I'm sorry.

Loki waited outside his mother’s chambers, able to hear the tail-end of her argument with his father. Once again, Loki’s magic had gotten out of hand, and he had made Sif’s hair turn into snakes. It had been an accident. They were sparring, learning a new lesson with short spears, and she nicked his ear as he ducked. The next thing he knew, Sif was screaming angrily, Thor was standing with his jaw dropped, and their instructor was shouting for a healer.

Sif had threatened to cut his nose off, if they couldn’t fix her hair. With a little help from his mother’s servant, Seevka, Loki had been able to restore Sif’s hair. Thor had laughed after that. He found Sif’s glares to be funny, when they were not aimed at him.

Now, Odin was roaring about how Loki needed to control his magic or Odin was going to send him away. So far, Loki had not managed to hear where he would be sent. Wherever it was, it must have been very far away. His mother had gotten quite angry when Odin mentioned it, and Loki was sure he had heard something break. A vase against the wall, perhaps.

“No. His magic is new, husband. He cannot be expected to have it perfectly under control, ever moment of the day, when he is yet so raw. Asgard was not built in a day, nor did Odin Allfather learn to use his powers overnight.”

“I did not take as long as he is taking, Frigga.”

“I did.”

“You have a Healer’s magic, that is more complex.”

“And his magic is not? Have you not seen what he can do? He turned hair to snakes that each had their own intent, he made the forks come alive at dinner last night when he sneezed. Last week, he was playing with Thor and when Thor fell from the horse they were on, Loki turned the grass below into a bed of thick mushrooms, saving Thor from a broken arm or bum, I might add. That is not simple magic and he does it reflexively. He is so powerful.”

“Exactly why he must control it!”

“Exactly why we mustn't expect him to perfect his control, so soon.”

There was a pause. Loki could only assume his father was letting out a mighty sigh. He did so frequently, when arguing with their mother.

“Loki waits outside. I will give him a lesson today, to help him control the might of his magic. You will need to leave.”

“I wish to see this, you making him do what none of the tutors and others have gone mad trying to do.”

“Your presence is not required nor helpful. Please leave?”

“Fine. However, do not expect me to wait much longer for him to learn control, my queen. Asgard cannot afford an unruly, defiant prince, wielding magic without care or respect.”

There was a pause where Loki could almost see his mother’s rage. He certainly felt the temperature drop a bit. He wondered if Odin did not notice these things, or if Odin were simply too angry to care.

“You will _not_ send my son away, Odin Allfather. If you do, I will go with him, and I will take Thor with me.”

Loki, despite knowing what his mother’s threat meant, did wonder at what it might be like. To live with just his mother and brother. No tutors, no court, no Sif, no Odin. He wondered where they would live? If Odin would let them leave Asgard or if they would go up into the mountains, where Heimdall meditated? Or they might go farther.

Loki’s thoughts and questions were interrupted by the doors of his mother’s room, flying open to reveal and angry, fiery Odin. His eye found Loki, a fury burning there that made Loki want to shrink back. Whenever Odin looked at him that way, it made him feel impossibly small. As if one might need a magnifying glass to locate him on the floor.

Odin let out an exasperated heave of breath and Loki flinched. Odin took a single step forward, his hand moving a bit, before he let out another sigh. He then marched off angrily. Loki pulled his knees up to his chest, curling his arms around them, keeping an eye on the door Odin exited from. And that was how his mother found him as she came out, her face as kind as Odin’s had been frightening.

Frigga crouched till her eyes were even with Loki’s, a smile warming her cheeks as she reached for him. He could not resist her invitation, nor would he think to do so.

“Come, my sweet boy.”

He flung himself into her waiting arms, wrapping around her like a monkey. She held him close, her one hand gently rubbing up and down his back, kissing the side of his head as he had burrowed his face in the crook of her neck. She carried him off, as if he weighed no more than a feather.

Inside her rooms, there was an abundance of light from all the windows and open space. Glittering artifacts and mirrors decorated most of the walls, along with brilliantly colored tapestries Frigga herself had crafted. She had taught Loki, and sometimes he would sit with her to weave.

Her bed dominated her bedroom, large with four thick posters that looked like tree trunks, their branches forming a canopy of green above her wide, soft bed. The bedding was all in shades of teal and silver, like many of the things his mother owned, from her jewelry to her favorite sword. There had always been a warmth to her room. Odin’s room, on the rare occasion Loki had been permitted there, had been very stark and unwelcoming. Not like his mother’s room. It was as warm and bright, as welcoming, as her gardens.

They walked past her bed and out to the small garden she had made on her balcony. There were no trees here, like in her gardens out behind the palace. Here her medicinal plants and her delicate, magic-sensitive plants, were left to flourish under her care.

She placed Loki comfortably on a small bench, then took a seat beside him. She did not speak and Loki began to feel the return of his fear. He anxiously waited, hoping his mother was not about to tell him that Odin was sending them away. Finally, he could take it no longer.

“Is Father sending me away?”

Frigga’s head spun to face him. He swore he should have heard her neck crack or the loose curls of her golden hair, flying through the air.

“What would… No. He is not sending you away. Although, he is right. You must learn to control you magic, before you accidently hurt someone or even yourself.”

“I don’t mean to, Mother!”

She reached for his thin shoulders, the warmth of her hands seeping through the leather of his jerkin, past his skin, and into his core. Sometimes he thought her warmth was really her motherly love, as even Thor had mentioned how he just felt better when she held him.

“I know you do not, Loki. No one is saying you mean to harm anyone. We are only concerned about things like what happened today in the sparring yard. What if one of those snakes had bitten Sif or if it could not be easily reversed? Or if you had turned the grass into rocks instead of mushrooms?”

Loki nodded, understanding the point she was making.

“I’m sorry, Mother.”

“You needn’t be sorry. Your magic is nothing to be ashamed of, my son. Nothing at all. It is a powerful thing, and like all that is powerful, to be respected for what it can do and how it can help or hurt. Your magic can help you do great things. Someday, you might even use it to save the whole of Asgard or to create something as magnificent as the Bifrost. Or you may continue saving your brother and pranking your friends.”

He smiled, unable to help himself. He had been practicing his magic by changing his own shape, for over a year now. It had been very fun to make Sif think he was a turtle or have the servants take him to his mother’s room in the guise of a book then to turn into a mirror a moment later and watch their confusion as they searched for the book they had just brought in. His mother did not find the tricks as amusing as he did, though she had not outright forbidden them. Yet.

“You will need to be able to use them with the same focus and skill in battle, someday, as your father uses his staff or Heimdall a sword. Your magic is your weapon, and it will keep you safe if you respect it.”

“Yes, Mother.”

She smiled.

“Alright, for our first lesson.”


	2. What is Death to Brotherly Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Thor hears Loki's screams, he comes to his brother's aid. Unfortunately, an eight-year-old with a small war hammer is not much of a match for a nightmare monster. Frigga must rescue her sons from a nightmare, later, she will see something to make her proud, as both the Queen of Asgard and the mother of Loki & Thor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still haven't seen INFINITY WAR, so no spoilers. Slightly spoiler-y for RAGNAROK.

Loki laid in his large, over-stuffed bed. Frigga had let he and Thor have a say about their rooms, which permitted Loki to have books covering two walls in his bedroom and lots of books in his study. The bed linens were in shades of emerald and sage, his walls like ivy, and his ceiling had a glowing replica of the night sky so he might trace stars when he could not sleep.

Thor’s room had loads of practice weaponry, bedsheets of bright red, walls with tapestries depicting battle scenes, and his study was full of toys, replica weapons, and a tent so he could pretend he was camping. Loki did not care for it at all, though Thor had said Loki’s room was worse than the library- Thor’s least favorite room in the palace. He preferred the practice yard, their mother’s gardens, or the great feasting hall.

He could not sleep. His mind kept going over and over the scene of his parents’ argument. He could hear the vase smashing against the wall, feel the temperature drop after Odin’s threat, see Odin’s wild, angry glare. Loki sunk a little deeper into the bed, hoping to make himself feel shielded. It did not work.

Signing, Loki decided to go over his mother’s rhyme. It was one she had taught him to calm his mind when he was about to practice his magic. He thought it could not hurt and might yet help.

Soon, he felt sleep coming up from his toes, relaxing his muscles at first his feet and ankles. Then steadily working up his legs, a heaviness filling his head, as sleep called for him. Loki went as he was bid, despite the foreboding he felt.

Moments later, Thor woke with a start. Whipping his head left and right, his hand moving for the short war hammer he kept nearby, he sought for the source of the noise that woke him. He could not remember what it was, only that it had frightening him to the core. Like a rod of ice shoved down his spine.

A scream. It was faint, coming through thick walls, yet it was clearly a scream. A scream he knew well. As well as he knew the sound of his own voice.

“Loki!”

He quickly cast off the covers and ran, stumbling a little when he first hit the ground, having forgotten just how high off the floor his bed actually was. He scrambled for a second, just managing not to fall face-first. Then he took off like a shooting star.

Out the door, around the corner, and making a sharp turn at the next door on the right. He sprang forward, the door barely slowing him. He went through Loki’s study, ignoring all the books and greenery. Bursting through the door to Loki’s bedroom, he was greeted with a sight that nearly made him scream to match his brother.

Four tendrils of silk were wrapped around Loki’s arms and legs, tugging him back and forth, as if they each were waging a tug of war against the other three, with Loki being the coveted prize. Loki, meanwhile, thrashed about and screamed. Thor dove forward, swinging his war hammer at one tendril, screaming at it as he did so.

“Let him go! Let my brother go! Let him go!”

The tendril extended a piece of itself, flicking out and knocking Thor back against the nearby wall as if he weighted but an ounce. Thor got back up and charged forward. He would not leave his brother.

Another scream sounded and Thor looked, finding their nurse, Hvoren. She was at the door, her hands over her cheeks, screaming as if she were being murdered. Beside her, a maid in a pale night dress looked as if she were seeing a monster. Two guards arrived, then the maid yelled something Thor did not hear, sending a guard running. Thor turned back to Loki. If the others would not help, then he would save his brother.

Thor continued to swipe, swing, and scream. He could not tell if he was making any sort of dent, with only the light of a single candle and the glow of Loki’s ceiling to illuminate this silk monster. He could only hear Loki’s screaming and feel the fury at someone trying to take his brother.

One of the tendrils appeared to be winning, tugging Loki further from Thor. Thor launched himself into the bed, his war hammer forgotten as he reached for Loki’s ankles. He snatched them both and pulled. With all the might his eight year old arms had, he tugged his brother’s legs, trying to keep the sheet monster from getting Loki.

Then, as suddenly as Loki had been pulled away, Thor felt a tendril reaching around his middle to pull him away from Loki. He refused. Planting his feet against the edge of the bed, the solid wood a better foothold than the soft mattress had been, he held fast. He was not letting go of Loki. Not now, not ever.

“THOR!”, his brother cried. Thor gritted his teeth and growled. He wasn’t letting go.

“I’ve got you! I’ve got you, Loki!”

He was about to call for help when he saw a golden cloud he knew as well as his brother’s voice or his own reflection. Frigga’s magic. He was flung backwards, a chair sliding over to catch him. Another burst pulled Loki free at the same time, sending him into the chase nearby. Then Frigga stepped up to the bed and waved her hands at the silken, monstrous tendrils, causing them to go limp and fall deflatedly by the corner posts. All four had tears in them.

Loki sat up, looking around as if terribly confused. Thor rushed over to him. Frigga turned to face the frightened staff of servants huddled outside the doorway.

“You all may return to your chambers.”

They all scattered, Frigga then turning to look at her boys. Loki was sitting up now, looking around wide-eyed, Thor crouched beside him, his arms wrapped around Loki as if trying to simultaneously shield and clasp his brother tightly to his chest. Odin, she knew, would take this as another example of why Loki ought to be sent away. He was frightening the servants and guards, he had nearly strangled himself, and she was sure Thor had some bruises he would hide from tonight’s misadventure.

Stepping closer, she examined her sons. Loki’s ankles were bruised, though while they had light bruises to match those on his wrists from the bedsheets and curtains, they also bore the image of Thor’s small hands. They even bore small crescent moon cuts from Thor’s small nails digging in as he attempted not to lose Loki. Thor, as far as she could tell, seemed unharmed. Though, from what she saw, she would imagine tomorrow she could look and find bruises across his middle. The room was in tatters, especially the bed.

Placing a hand on a cheek of each of her boys’ faces, she offered them a smile. Both were scared and needed reassurance, not reprimand. With a small gesture from her, they both followed her out onto the little balcony, where she sat on a cushioned bench and beckoned them to join her. Loki went straight into her lap, as expected. Thor, uncharacteristically clingy for him of late, curled around Frigga’s left arm and leaned into her shoulder as he sat beside her. He must have been more rattled than she originally thought.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.”, Loki answered first.

“I heard Loki scream, so I came in. I thought he was having a nightmare, at first. Or maybe something had flown in here and needed chased out.”

Loki looked over at Thor, as if puzzled by his brother’s behavior. Despite the pranking and teasing that went on between them, Frigga had no doubt her sons loves each other dearly. Perhaps even more dearly than they loved she and Odin, which made her happy, knowing that even when she and Odin had gone to the Great Halls, her sons would have each other. Sometimes, however, she worried their pranks and jokes might create a gulf between them. She would have to work on that.

“And then what?”

“It was like the four curtains were fighting over him and he was screaming and wriggling, trying to get away. So I tried to help.”

Frigga nodded.

“Next time, should there be a next time, if you find Loki in such a state, you are to come and get me.”

“But mother”, she stopped him.

“ _No_ , you come find me.”

“Loki needed help!”

Loki’s little hand snaked out from her side, moving to give Thor’s shoulder a squeeze. Frigga felt her heart bursting with love for these two wild little boys. So different, so intelligent and brave little boys. Her boys.

“I know, and I know you want to help him, but magic is not where your strength lies. You could have been hurt or… Just please, promise me that you’ll come for me?”

Thor dutifully nodded, looking a bit hurt. Loki, meanwhile, had frozen up when she trailed off about what could have happened to Thor. She needed to be more mindful of her wording, in the future. Especially when Loki was within earshot.

Frigga hugged them both closely. By the Norns, she loved these loyal, sensitive little boys. And if anyone tried to take them from her, they would beg for death before she was through with them.

“You both are the most loyal, strongest, and best of Asgard. You each have your strengths, but for now you must remember that you are still children. You need to leave the fighting to the adults, for now. Soon enough, you will fight your own battles and have your own adventures. Yet, for now, keeping you safe is my work. For now, it is up to the adults, to keep the two of you protected. Now, do you both promise that in the future, you’ll allow me to take care of you? No heroics for a while?”

They both nodded, looking solemn and sleepy. Frigga hugged them close, smiling. They were both worn out, Loki from the expending of magic and Thor from the fight and the fear. She had an idea.

“Come, follow me.”

Taking a hand each, her boys trailed a half step behind her as she went back into the bedroom. Without alerting the children, she reached out with her magic to repair the damage their two had done to Loki’s bedding and surrounding furnishings. By the time she brought the boys in, the room looked as if the earlier events had not occurred.

First, she helped Loki into the bed, then Thor. Climbing in behind them, she moved to the center and patted the spaces on either side. Thor and Loki needed no more invitation than that. Both moved up and curled to each face her, their heads resting on the pillows, but their arms moving out to hug her as she draped her arms over their pillows, her fingers gently combing through their hair.

Spun gold with just a little wave in it, much like her own. Raven wing with enough curl to put hers to shame. Like with so much else about them, they were vastly different. Total opposites, in so many ways, her sons. She let her magic flow down her fingers, settling and calming them both, allowing them to drift to sleep, her words spinning good dreams to greet them once they were fully asleep.

She spoke of beautiful apple orchards, of a pleasant walk up a green, grassy hill, where they could sit beneath a tree to munch apples and discuss the shapes of clouds. Of her boys making pets of some of the small creatures that happened by, of adventures the two would share in the years to come, and of their birthday celebration on the near horizon.

She spun a tale of the great, glorious future that awaited them. Princes of Asgard, brothers till the end. All the realms awaited, adventure lurking around every corner. Soon enough, the cruel realities of rule and adulthood would come crashing down on them. But for now, they could be her little boys. Eight years old, innocent and sheltered, permitted to dream wildly and always believing that Frigga or their brother could protect them from anything.

She smiled, her heart heavy. Odin hid a lot from their sons, some of the darker parts of Asgard’s history, Loki’s origins, Thor’s real power, their elder sister with her lust for power and blood, their part in Ragnarok, and so much more. Things no child should ever bear the weight of. Things she would spare them of, if it were within her power. As it was not, she had to console herself that she could prepare them and that, for this moment, she could give them the one gift every child ought to have. A childhood filled with love, warmth, patience, and peace. Time to simply be children.

With both her sons sound asleep, Frigga placed a gentle kiss atop each of their heads, then settled back. She would get up soon, leaving them together and returning to the bed she had been pulled from. Odin would not care to learn she had spent the night with their sons, as he believed them both too old for such coddling.

Frigga closed her eyes and allowed her mind to wander. Days passed, then weeks, soon decades bled into centuries. She saw her boys, men now, standing side by side in the middle of a battlefield. Thor, tall and proud, his hair a bit less golden and far shorter. He looked wrung out yet defiantly he stood tall. Lightening danced over his hands and arms, even his eyes glowed with it. Loki, lithe and lethal, his hair still midnight black but hanging down to his shoulders. He seemed as if he were hanging by a thread, yet he refused to leave his brother’s side or yield to their enemy. They exchanged a look, which turned to a small smile.

Frigga mirrored the smile. Her boys. As long as each had the other, there was nothing they could not take on. Nothing that could defeat them. And if Death were able to take the one, the other would fight to get him back. _Death was nothing to brotherly love_.


End file.
